I feel like I have to rant about this every few months but when your job is sifting through the news to find interesting content you end up seeing a lot of sad stuff as well. Every single day I read about a longboarder or skater getting hit by a car. EVERY SINGLE DAY.
These are worldwide stats, but many of them are in the USA and some of them are in our backyard. I hate to say it but I’m going to anyways, usually it’s the skater or longboarder’s fault. How is that you may ask? Well, usually they are skating at night with no lights on them or they have headphones on or they blast through an intersection. You can say this is bullshit but look at your own actions and really think about them.
The thing that kids don’t realize is most drivers are paying about as much attention to you as you are to them. It’s a problem but it’s the truth. People are texting, they can’t see as well at night, they are reaching down to grab something, they are eating, they are doing everything but holding the wheel at 10 & 2 waiting for a skater to pop out of nowhere. So it’s up to you to protect yourself. Don’t assume because you are on the side of the road that you are safe. Don’t ride down the middle of the street in your black hoody at night. I had some guys skitch the back of my car in downtown last year and I almost got out and beat their ass – not because I hate skaters (I am one) because I didn’t want to be responsible when one of these clowns fell under my tire. I’m tired of reading about sad families and their kid who was going places who is now a vegetable. I’m tired of seeing photos of kids lighting candles at a wake. Skateboarding and longboarding is supposed to be fun and all this shit is harshing my mellow. I lost two friends to bike accidents within a month when I lived in Boston. Were they wearing helmets? Nope. Was one riding at night in all black without a light? Yep. It’s stupid and it’s pointless and a lot of people suffered because of their actions, including the driver who has to wonder for the rest of her life if they could have stopped sooner and not killed a human being. Trust me, I think all drivers including myself need to be a lot more careful – I’m just as bad as everyone else – but the guy with the least protection needs to always be safer. Stop being a douche. Professional skaters need to start wearing helmets because kids idolize you and do whatever you do. If you are gonna blast a massive hill on a longboard have some lookouts at least and obviously wear protection. But just realize that at the end of the day there are a lot of people who got you to where you are now and you will ruin their lives if you pull some dumb shit and get hit by a car senselessly. Including mine, because I will see your obituary, feel for your family, and then get pissed once again.
